Nimrat Kaur: The Lunchbox is not a film; it's an event

Nimrat Kaur: The Lunchbox is not a film; it's an event

'I want the next film to be worth all the acceptance and praise The Lunchbox has brought me.'

Nimrat Kaur hasn't signed her next film yet, but she's loving every minute of her exciting career so far.

Nimrat Kaur shoots a cursory glance at the first part of her interview while chatting with Rediff readers and quips, "Now I can't buy a Jaguar ever."

Sitting in a suburban Mumbai cafe, the actress-model is sipping coffee and making small talk as her fingers move diligently on the laptop.

She takes each question into consideration, and makes it a point to respond to the longer ones, 'They've put so much effort in writing all that,' she reasons.

The questions range from the predictable, 'Will you do item numbers?' to the more well-informed, 'What kind of dilemmas are you faced with when you read a new script?' but the answers are all uniformly honest and thoughtful.

In this second part of the interview with Nishi Tiwari, Nimrat sheds some light on her life between her first music video Tera Mera Pyar and The Lunchbox, discusses the difficulties of internalising a character like Ila and paints a curious picture of madness that is the Cannes Film Festival.

What did you do between Tera Mera Pyar and The Lunchbox?

I worked in a lot of commercials and plays.

While commercials were lucrative, I got to perform in some very interesting plays when I started theatre six-seven years ago.

They weren't commercially viable projects but they were helmed by some of the best minds in theatre.

How did Peddlers happen?

They were looking for a girl to play the love interest of one of the six protagonists.

They approached me a little hesitatingly because they were under the impression that I was some snooty theatre actor who wasn’t interested in films.

But Vasan (Bala, the film's debutant director) was kind enough to meet me and I really wanted to work with him.

'Cannes is pretty harrowing if you aren't part of the jury'

You first went to the Cannes Film Festival with Peddlers in 2012, where it was screened in competition. What was the experience like?

Cannes was gorgeous.

I didn’t have a team of assistants back then so I personally wrote e-mails to designers whose clothes I wanted to wear and some of them were kind enough to send over some outfits.

The overall atmosphere there is extremely chaotic and crazy, but I loved every bit of it.

Just how chaotic does it get during the festival?

It’s madness! There are traffic jams because everybody is arriving at the same time at the same venue; trying to find a cab there is humanely impossible -- it’s a logistical nightmare of an unimaginable level.

It’s pretty harrowing if you aren’t part of the jury.

How so?

See, the whole thing works on hierarchy. After the jury, there are other sections at the festival, including the Palme d’Or, Un Certain Regard, Critics’ Week and so on.

So basically how well you’re taken care of depends on which category your film is being screened in (Peddlers screened in the International Critics’ Week segment, an independent event that runs parallel to the main film festival).

'Peddlers is a very difficult film to put out there'

It was okay. I mean they weren't exactly blown away but we received a warm response.

They were surprised to see that kind of film coming out of India.

It was a great feeling at the end of the day considering the kind of trouble Vasan went to, to make the film – shoe-string budget, no stars in the film, shooting in locations without permit, my clothes were my own.

What kind of locations did you shoot in that required permits?

There was this one steamy scene between Gulshan (Devaiah) and me that we were supposed to shoot in a cab and we were taking U-turns on a back road in Lokhandwala.

There were cops around and we had to wrap it up fast before they noticed us.

Another time, there was a very important scene set in a café and there was a loud baraat passing by. It was quite tough to shoot because we were using sync sound.

Another critical scene was shot in an alley known as cocaine gali.

Is Peddlers going to release in India?

I don’t think so because it’s a very difficult film to put out there. It’s got its limitations in terms of its target audience. It may have an online release.

'While in college, I'd figured out a way to make money when I was bored'

While in college, I’d figured out a way to make money when I was bored -- I would host events in the South Extension market and in Greater Kailash (suburbs in New Delhi), conduct road shows in college, corporate events and stuff like that.

I’d done a musical with Roshan Abbas when Toyota Qualis was launched. I was paired opposite Sameer Kochchar in it.

When I first moved here, I lived with relatives for the first six months and later got a place of my own in Santa Cruz (a western Mumbai suburb) where I continue to live.

You made your debut at awards shows this year but The Lunchbox got the royal snub at all of them.

I look at it as an opportunity to dress up really well and have a good time with people who are close to you.

My younger sister Rubina flew in from Bangalore for one awards event and mum joined me for another one.

But I guess there’s always that acceptance speech in your mind that you dream of delivering, but it’s okay if you don’t get to do it.

You just congratulate the winner and say ‘better luck next time’ to yourself.

In the end you have to take it with a pinch of salt really because your film has already done what it had to do.